§ Lord Harris of Greenwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
What were the uniformed strength of the Customs and Excise on 1st July 1985, the strength of the investigation branch on that day, and the comparable figures for each year since 1977.
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Arts (The Earl of Gowrie)I regret that figures for the uniformed strength of HM Customs and Excise are not available for 1977 or for 1st July in each year, but at 1st April for each year since 1978 they were as follows:
1978 4,595 1979 4,665 1980 4,382 1981 4,162 1982 3,959 1983 3,746 1984 3,497 1985 3,418 (provisional) The reduction in uniformed staff in 1985 results from the loss of revenue assistants previously employed on traditional excise work and on some customs work where their posts have been upgraded. In the same period the number of uniformed preventive staff has increased.
The stength of the Investigation Division of HM Customs and Excise at 1st July for each year since 1978 was as follows:
1978 401 1979 429 1980 443 1981 514 1982 555 1983 592 1984 587 1985 599 The Government announced on 11 th June that a further 50 specialist drugs investigators are being added to the Investigation Division in the course of 1985–86.